In some respects, Abdullah contradicts the narrative that has sprung up around the Abbott government's Cambodia refugee swap deal.

He owns and runs a successful business, a restaurant called Middle East Feast which he set up with a loan from Australia, has made friends with locals and is settled in a country he had never heard of three years ago.

But all Abdullah wants now is to see his wife, Yasmin, and their four children.

Abdullah in front of his restaurant, Middle East Feast, in Phnom Penh.Credit:Kate Geraghty

After six years, and what he says have been numerous broken promises by the Australian government, it's hard to blame him.

Abdullah says he may finally receive approval to be reunited with them in Phnom Penh in a couple of weeks' time.

That he is even contemplating a hunger strike if approval doesn't come through this time underscores how desperate he has become.

Abdullah's long journey to Phnom Penh began in Al Harah, in Syria. Back in 2012, he and his family fled to Lebanon as life became dangerous under the regime of Syrian president Bashar al-Assad.

After a few months in Lebanon, Abdullah left his family to blaze a path to what they all hoped would be a new and better life in Australia.

He spent two months in Egypt, a month in Malaysia, another month in Indonesia and finally, took the dangerous boat journey with 71 other passengers on what became Suspected Illegal Entry Vehicle 821, after it was intercepted by Australia and taken to Christmas Island in June or July 2013.

All up, Abdullah spent about $US15,000 ($20,000) in his attempt to get to Australia.

After being intercepted, Abdullah spent eight months on Christmas Island and two years and three months on Nauru.

“They speak to me, you need to come back to Syria. But I speak that I cannot go back to Syria, because at that time big problems in my country ... Not Daesh [also known as Islamic State], just the government. When I left my country there was no Daesh, no Al Nusra [another extremist group]."

Time on Christmas Island and Nauru passed slowly, he says, and the people were desperate. He takes out his phone and shows videos and pictures of an Iranian man who set himself on fire one day, after being told the refugees would likely be on Nauru for ten years.

"Some[times for] two or three days, cannot sleep. Cannot do anything, cannot go do anything just stay, stay, stay," he says.

After six or seven months, the refugees began to be given tablets to help them sleep.

He took them, “many many, because cannot sleep".

One day, after the September 2014 refugee deal was announced with Cambodia, Australian government representatives told the refugees they could be re-settled in the south-east Asian nation.

"I speak to them, 'OK, I go to Cambodia, but can I meet with my family'?" he tells Fairfax Media. The response was that after three or four months, his family would be able to come from Lebanon and join him.

After six months, Abdullah spoke to the Australian government because his family still had not joined him.

“I say, 'What's problem? You say after three or four months'. The IOM speak to me, the government Australia need letter from government Cambodia."

That letter, which would clear the way for Abdullah's family to move to Cambodia as refugees, has now been secured.

“The government Cambodia agree, Abdullah have family, Abdullah have business, Abdullah good, not have any problem. If everything OK, what the problem [with] my family come?”

It has now been a year and nine months since Abdullah left Nauru and came to Phnom Penh.

Fairfax Media contacted Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton's office to ask why the family reunification had been delayed. A response had not been received at the time of publication.

James Massola is south-east Asia correspondent, based in Jakarta. He was previously chief political correspondent for The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age, based in Canberra. He has been a Walkley and Quills finalist on three occasions.